[meteorite-list] Hayabusa Images of Asteroid Itokawa: September 7-10, 2005

[Ron Baalke]

http://www.isas.ac.jp/e/snews/2005/0910.shtml

Itokawa Image on September 9
JAXA
September 10, 2005

Hayabusa continues approaching Itokawa, and its image is growing day by
day. The left image is taken at 16:28 UTC on September 9 by the visible
imager, AMICA. The distance from Hayabusa to Itokawa is approximately 70
km. The right image was obtained at 18:11 UTC on the day. Itokawa
rotates about 50 degrees between left and right images, and the
irregular shape of Itokawa is clearly seen. Some features such as
craters are also seen in these images.

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http://www.isas.ac.jp/e/snews/2005/0908.shtml

Hayabusa's Primary Visible Imager, AMICA now started its Test Observation
JAXA
September 8, 2005

Test Observation

The exposure occurred during 15:10 - 15:15UTC on September 3rd, 2005, when 
Hayabusa completed its first half of deceleration maneuvers. The field of 
view of each picture above is 11.4 by 16.3 arc minutes. The vertical axis 
approximately coincides with the north direction of the ecliptic plane.
Hayabusa carries the AMICA instrument that uses the Optical Navigation 
Camera sensor-head with the Filter Wheel consisting seven bands filters as 
well as one wide-band filter. What filter was used is annotated at 
lower-right in each picture. They are ul (380nm), b (420nm), v (540nm), 
w (700nm), x (860nm), p (940nm), zs (1,000nm) bands respectively.
Hayabusa will perform the calibration observation using standard stars and 
plans to conclude Itokawa's spectral results soon.

In addition to AMICA, Hayabusa performed its on-orbit health check of its 
Laser Altimeter (LIDAR) aboard, which detects the distance to Itokawa in 
order to trigger stop maneuver, when Hayabusa reaches the Gate Position 
box located 20 kilometers toward the Earth. The laser transmission test was 
successful.

Hayabusa, on September 7th morning, is about 350 kilometers from Itokawa 
with the approach speed of still 7 kilometers per hour. Hayabusa will 
reach Itokawa almost one week ahead.

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http://www.isas.ac.jp/e/snews/2005/0909-2.shtml

Itokawa Image on September 8
JAXA
September 7, 2005

Hayabusa continues approaching Itokawa, and its image is growing day by day. 
The left image is taken at 16:15 UTC on September 8 by the visible imager, 
AMICA. The v-band (540nm) filter was used. The distance from Hayabusa to 
Itokawa is approximately 125 km. The right image was obtained via 
magnification, interpolation, sharpening and contrast emphasizing technique. 
The image is now under analysis of AMICA scientists. 

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http://www.isas.ac.jp/e/snews/2005/0907.shtml

Hayabusa detects Itokawa's rotation
JAXA
September 7, 2005

This animated image is built from the twenty images taken between 18:10, 
5 Sep and 0:30, 6 Sep (JST).  Distance between Itokawa and Hayabusa is less 
than 700 kilometers at the start of imaging. In this time, Hayabusa was 
approaching Itokawa at approximately ten kilometers per hour.  Itokawa's 
rotation period is known to be approximately 12 hours by ground-based 
observations. This animation shows about an half period of rotation.
Rotational direction was found as expected.